A compactor is a type of machine that is commonly used to pack down and hence increase a load supporting capacity of materials, such as waste or soil. For example, a compactor may be used at a landfill to crush waste and refuse materials, or at a construction site to compact earth, including dirt and rock. Compactors typically have cylindrical wheels or rollers that are used to crush the waste or soil as the compactor is moved throughout the job site. In the case of soil or waste compactors, wheel tips, or teeth, may be supported about external surfaces of the wheels or rollers to improve compaction and/or traction capabilities of the ground engaging wheels or rollers of the compactor.
While surfaces of the compactor wheel tips, during normal operation of the compactor, are subject to wear, moving the compactor along paved or surfaced roads may subject the wheel tips to excessive wear and/or damage. Such excessive wear or damage may significantly decrease the life of the wheel tips and, possibly, the compactor wheel. Further, moving the compactor across relatively hard roads, such as to move the compactor between job sites, may expose the road to excessive wear and/or chipping. Some regulations may even prohibit the operation of compactors or other machines having compactor wheel tips across certain roadways to prevent potential road damage.
A tractor lug guard is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 1,932,267 to Francis. As taught in the Francis patent, a tractor lug guard may be attached to tractor wheels when operating the tractor on a highway. Specifically, four lug guard sections, having an overall thickness greater than a height of the tractor lugs, are provided in series to form an annulus about the tractor wheel. Each piece is bolted to the wheel and to an adjacent lug guard piece, and includes lug shaped recesses in the inner periphery thereof to reduce slippage of the guard pieces relative to the wheel. Facilitating attachment of the guards to the wheels, especially in the field, may be problematic.
The present disclosure is directed to one or more of the problems set forth above.